government relations
Tracking Student Engagement in Music – Wisconsin’s District Report Cards Brad Schneider, WMEA State Chair, Government Relations
On February 7, Wis- consin Advocates for Music Education held its 2nd
annual
Drive-In Day to the State Capitol. Na- tional Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) joined WMEA members
meeting with 28 legislators including 11 that currently sit on the Assembly or Sen- ate Education Committees.
The official ‘Ask’ presented to the legisla- tors was:
Wisconsin Music Educators Association requests that the annual School District Report Cards be amended to include local and state enrollment percentages in music, visual arts and drama/ theater as data on the Student Engagement Indicators page.
This data would be presented for informational purposes only and not considered in a district’s accountability calculations.
Rationale was presented to support this change to the District Report Cards.
First, Wisconsin hopes to join other forward-looking states that recognize the importance of the fine arts in educating the whole child. New Jersey, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon and Arizona have in- cluded arts participation on their report cards or dashboards as part of their ESSA state plans.
(See graphic on next page)
Second, Student Engagement Indicators are already a large part of the Wisconsin School District Report Cards. Recent data from Wisconsin’s largest urban school district shows strong correlations between
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reinstated music instruction and rise in attendance at those schools. Engaging students and families is what we do as music educators. Including fine arts data on the District Report Cards as a Student Engagement measure will encourage communities to better understand (and support) what their schools are offering.
Third, multiple studies have shown that increased opportunities in the arts have a positive effect on school attendance and achievement in other disciplines. A 2017 Ph.D. dissertation by Gresham Principal Ben Heninger presents the relationship be- tween instrumental music instruction and scores on the ACT Aspire test in a large Western Wisconsin school district.
The conclusion of the study indicated that the instrumental music education was sta- tistically significant (instrumental music students scored 19 percent higher) and positively related to participants’ ACT As- pire test scores in English, science, reading and math. Among all of the independent variables tested in this study (gender, race, special education and poverty), none made a more statistically positive contribution than instrumental music study. You can see Dr. Heninger’s complete dissertation at this link:
http://wsmamusic.org/ files/2018/02/B.-Heninger- Dissertation.pdf
Wisconsin’s school districts already send enrollment data for fine arts classes to DPI through local student information systems such as Infinite Campus. The WMEA Council has been in contact with the DPI Office of Educational Accountability that oversees the report cards. They report that although including fine arts data on the District Report Cards will take some effort, it is doable.
Kay Black, a Drive-In Day participant and an Oregon orchestra teacher, reported a collaborative atmosphere. “I found the legislators and their staff to be highly interested and engaged in conversations regarding the importance of music educa- tion. There also seemed to be great support for the suggestion of reporting student en- rollment in music and fine arts courses on the state report card,” she said. Whitewater resident and music educator Elizabeth Duessen echoed that sentiment, “It was inspiring and rewarding to participate in the Advocacy Drive-In alongside profes- sionals from many facets of music industry and education. Conversations with our elected officials were strengthened and rounded by the collaboration between NAMM and WMEA members.”
The wheels of governance turn slowly and this request will likely have to wind its way through committee. DPI will also need time to make the necessary portal available. That said, the WAME commit- tee is happy to report that the first steps have been taken. The committee welcomes member input regarding this proposal.
References:
Heninger, B. (2017). “Instrumental- Music Student and Student
Achievement” (Dissertation). Edgewood College.
State of New Jersey Department of Education. “NJ School Performance Report – Watchung Hills Regional High School 2016-2017, Grade Span 09-12.” February 20, 2018.
https://rc.doe.state.
nj.us.
Brad Schneider recently retired from teaching instrumental music at Middleton High School. Email:
brad.schneider102@
gmail.com
April 2018
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